If something goes wrong, will protest leaders atone like Mahatma: Bhagwat

NEWDELHI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat asked if anyone in the present times would atone like Mahatma Gandhi if their agitation went wrong and created law and order problems.

Gandhi’s ideals were purely Indian, therefore, he never shied from showing his Hindu credentials, Bhagwat said, asserting that India of Gandhi’s dreams is now being realised.

“Sometimes Gandhiji’s movement went wrong; but he knew his method was wrong and not his intent. He used to atone for that and take responsibility. But the movements that are going on today, if there are law and order problems is there anyone who will atone? Is there anyone who will take responsibility? If there is a lathicharge or firing, the ones who are killed atone, the one imprisoned have to face courts. But those who organise these movements either win or lose,” he said.

Criticising those who are responsible for stoking unrest, Bhagwat said, for India’s future, it is imperative to follow the follow Gandhi’s first lesson that honesty is everything. “Honesty is not a policy, it is everything…”

Bhagwat’s comments, made at the launch of a book on the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi by former NCERT director JS Rajput, came in the backdrop of the nationwide protests against the amended citizenship act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. The book was launched at the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, where Gandhiji was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948. According to an RSS functionary, Bhagwat is the first Sangh chief to visit Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti.